The present invention is directed towards the forming of antenna arrays, and more particularly to the use of antenna array packages to form large-scale antenna arrays.
Antenna arrays are used in a variety of applications. One application is the use of antenna arrays to create a phased-array. Phased-array radar or imaging systems typically include a large number of planar antenna elements ranging from several hundreds to thousands. An example of a phased-array imaging system is a millimeter wave imaging system. Millimeter wave imaging, in some cases, involves passive detection of naturally occurring radiation in the millimeter wave (30 GHz to 300 GHz) band. Atmospheric propagation windows for millimeter wave radiation (in which there is minimal atmospheric absorption of the radiation) exist at 35, 94, 140, and 220 GHz. Thus, many millimeter wave imagers are designed to operate at these frequencies. However, imagers are also designed to operate at other frequencies, particularly in cases where detection of radiation is required only over relatively short distances (e.g., 10 m).